Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Is your iPod spying on you? (Redux) - Engadget: "Is your iPod spying on you? (Redux)

Posted Mar 10th 2005 3:05PM by Peter Rojas
Filed under: Portable Audio, Wireless
4G ipod

Eric Sinrod has a completely nonsensical column in yesterday's USA Today about how MP3 players are going to be the next big risk to personal privacy. His entire column is based on a piece Dr. Larry Ponemon of the 'Ponemon Institute' (that ain't the Pokemon Institute, it's a 'privacy think-tank'—that's rich) wrote back in February for Darwin magazine about the privacy risks of MP3 players. His evidence? One anecdotal piece of evidence about a ten-year-old girl who got a 'shiny MP3 player' for Christmas (they don't say what kind it was); the girl, who only goes by the name 'Olivia,' started downloading hundreds of songs, only to be deluged a few weeks later with targeted ads for rock concerts, CDs, and 'pop clothing star sales.' Her 'computer-savvy' mom called the manufacturer to complain about how her daughter's MP3 player had violated her privacy, only to be told that it was impossible for the device to do that.

Sounds like Olivia probably got hit with some spyware after downloading some not-so-legal music, right? Not according to Sinrod, who claims that '[MP3] players can collect personal information and track user musical preferences,' and that 'th"





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